End is near for surveillance law

The Senate is racing toward a last-minute showdown over a controversial counterterrorism surveillance law.

While the chamber is preoccupied with the fast-approaching fiscal cliff, the clock is also running out on the so-called FISA Amendments Act — provisions of which are scheduled to sunset at the end of the year.

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The law has its skeptics, many of whom fear that Americans are getting swept up in what is supposed to be a surveillance statute aimed at foreign targets. Its leading critic, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), has tried to block Senate consideration of the measure as he seeks more information on how many U.S. citizens have been affected.

But the chamber now faces a daunting task in addressing Wyden’s objections while processing a slew of proposed amendments to the extension, which the House approved without change earlier this year.

“The authorities in FISA that expire at the end of the year have proven critical tools for collecting intelligence on terrorists, proliferators, cyber attackers among others,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the leader of the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement to POLITICO. “Congress must, and I believe will, pass this critical extension before Dec. 31.”

Neither Feinstein nor Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), however, would comment on whether senators would have the opportunity to offer amendments as the chamber moves toward considering the bill.

The law, passed in 2008, amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to help federal law enforcement and intelligence officials better track non-U.S. persons abroad, provided they get the green light from a special court. Some of those powers, backed strongly by the Obama administration, are set to expire at the end of December.

In the House, lawmakers passed a clean, five-year extension of those surveillance powers in September, in a move that won applause from the White House. The administration at the time issued a statement touting the expiring provisions — known as Title VII — for their effectiveness at preventing domestic terrorism.